In the photo: This is not Yves Peters’s head.
Around 10am, Anke and I arrived at the bcc on Alexanderplatz for TYPO Berlin 2007. The conference’s first day fell on Ascension Thursday, a holiday in Germany. Anke did not have to work, so she came to the conference center to see what there was to see.
After I checked in, I experienced one of these blogger’s moments. In short succession, we ran into Ivo, and then Jürgen Siebert. Ivo and Anke asked Jürgen for a few highlights not to miss from the conference program. Instead of listing his favorites, he took the time to explain the entire program to us. Or maybe he really was just listing his favorites. Hmm… Afterwards, the four of us went on a brief tour of the building.
Bernhard from Linotype and I flew in to Berlin on Wednesday to set up Linotype’s booth. Our other colleagues attending the conference did not arrive until much later in the day on Thursday, so Bernhard and I had the company stand to ourselves for much of the day. New goodies at the Linotype stands include sketch books and picture clips, both of which are free, as well as Hermann Zapf’s Alphabet Stories book, which is not free.
The bcc is much smaller than the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. TYPO Berlin is normally held at the HKW, but that West Berlin conference hall is undergoing renovation this year. The bcc is much more East German, and could have doubled as a set for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. But the bcc has an interesting flavor, and does not feel cramped.
I did not hear any of the lectures yesterday, but I did see two of the music performances. For weeks, these billings have been at the top of my must-see list: Wolfraam and House Industries: Die neue Amerikanische Badneß.
Wolfraam was delightful. I have no idea how to describe their music. It was entirely instrumental and visual, but they did seem to have a song about Erik Spiekermann. I thought that House was going to perform an hour-long heavy metal set. Instead, they put on a performance very similar to their TYPO Berlin 2004 appearance, were Rich Roat narrated a slideshow of House’s work while a band played behind him. Unlike 2004, the band did play a few songs without Rich’s narration. These were great, especially one that I think is named “Suburban Curse.” House did also show new work, which was nice to see, as well as Blaktur, which I expected and which is delightfully beautiful. Not like anyone from House reads TypeOff., but hey House: I would love a music-only concert. That would be awesome.
Must Read
Jürgen at FontBlog.de
Ivo at Fontwerk.com
Nick at Guillemets.de
Everybody on Slanted.de
Must See
TypeOff.’s TYPO Berlin photos
All TYPO Berlin photos on Flickr